Daily Archives: June 11, 2025

Your complete guide to the 2025 Club World Cup – the groups, the teams and the storylines to watch

“The Club World Cup begins on Saturday, June 14, when Inter Miami take on Al Ahly at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. How will Lionel Messi and friends get on? Are they likely to get out of Group A? And what about Real Madrid? The world’s biggest club have replaced Carlo Ancelotti with Xabi Alonso, their former midfielder, and signed Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen in the mini transfer window before the tournament. They’re also after Alvaro Carreras from Benfica and one of the hottest prospects in world football, River Plate’s 17-year-old forward Franco Mastantuono. Benfica and River are part of the fun in the United States, too. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
NY Times/The Athletic: One year from a home World Cup, USMNT with fanfare has fear of being a flop
W – 2025 FIFA Club World Cup

The history of the sash, a football shirt status symbol


“Whether it is the red stripe of Peru, River Plate or Rayo Vallecano, the diagonal sash — in all its forms and colourways — is fundamental to football kit heritage. But where does it come from and who started the trend? That depends on who you ask. In their early days, football shirts were completely plain, so to distinguish two opposing teams, it is believed that a sash band was first introduced as a tool for players to differentiate between team-mates and the opposition. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
A History of Football Kit Design in England and Scotland

Peru, pictured at the 1936 Olympics, are classic purveyors of sashed shirts

Uzbekistan’s World Cup dream realised: Tears, near-misses and making amends for ‘stolen goals’

“As the enormity of what they had achieved started to sink in, the emotions of Uzbekistan’s football squad became too much to bear. This was the greatest moment of all of their careers. The players were crying, the staff were crying, even the unused substitutes were in tears. Heroic goalkeeper Utkir Yusupov, who made several outstanding saves including one in the eighth minute of added time, was on his knees, blubbing like the rest of them. …”
NY Times/The Athletic